Human Rights Watch has condemned the illegality of Ukrainian actions in east Ukraine, ascribing direct blame to Kiev for the rising death toll in the Lugansk Region, which by local estimates has reached 300 since May.

The organization visited the city on August 20-22, performing a
survey of the situation and carrying out
interviews with locals who in one way or another were affected by
the heavy bombardment, which had people cowering in fear in
basements for weeks without water or electricity.

Ever since Kiev’s attempts to retake the city from the local
defense forces, massive power cuts, food and water shortages, and
network interruptions have taken place. The situation resembles
so many other humanitarian crises, with long lines of people
queuing for basic supplies – at least those not afraid to leave
their basements.

“With communications cut, there is less information available
about the situation in Lugansk [Luhansk] than other areas in the
east,” Ole Solvang, senior emergencies researcher with the
NGO said. “But the truth is, local residents are subjected to
terrifying daily shelling, much of it apparently unlawful, and
that the number of civilian casualties is steadily rising.”

HRW saw that many attacks failed to distinguish between civilians
and combatants, which are a violation of international law and
the laws of war.

Evidence of the indiscriminate nature of these attacks could be
seen in the use of weaponry not meant for areas where precision
is required. Projectiles with 152mm caliber aren’t intended for
such missions. Nor are 350mm Smersh rockets and cluster munitions
deliver by 220mm Uragan (Hurricane) rockets.

“The use of explosive weapons with such wide-area effects in
a city full of civilians is completely irresponsible and will
almost inevitably lead to civilian casualties… Whether used by
government or insurgent forces, those responsible should be held
to account for this callous disregard for civilian life,”
Solvang continued.

The local head of the medical examiner’s office, Anatoly
Tureevich, told HRW that bodies have been coming in almost daily
since May.

“The numbers vary from day to day depending on the intensity
of the shelling. On July 21, we received 20 bodies, on July 22 –
5, July 23 – 3, July 26 – 18, August 4 – 17. August 14 was a bad
day with 22 people. Ninety-nine percent of the civilians we
receive have died from shrapnel injuries.”

These only cover civilian casualties.

While the outright lack of security on the ground made it
difficult to establish whether said weapons directly led to
civilian deaths, there is little doubt the majority of structural
destruction was caused by them.

While Ukraine isn’t party to the Cluster Munitions Agreement of
2008, its use of large-caliber weaponry on civilian areas cannot
be ignored, HRW stated, adding that it will recommend that such
weapons are not used in populated areas in future.

Among HRW’s other recommendations was for the international
community to put pressure on the Ukrainian government to adhere
to the rules of engagement and to international humanitarian law,
while also urging Russia to do what it can to appeal to the
eastern self-defense forces.

The results of the survey indicate that a large majority of
attacks on the city were carried out by Ukrainian government
forces, while the insurgents were responsible for much fewer and
targeted government positions on the outskirts of Lugansk.

An August 18 attack saw shells strike a busy central market,
killing four – then striking it again in the coming days, during
HRW’s visit.

Evidence, however, also points to an insurgent role in several
attacks, one of which was the August 10 incident in Krasny Yar, a
village just north of Lugansk, which injured two civilians when a
Grad rocket struck from the direction where self-defense forces
were allegedly based.

A rough statistic of injuries and fatalities has been compiled by
HRW, outlining eight especially severe incidences of shelling
having taken place in August – all in the most severely hit
Zhovtnevy district, which underscores the very bad luck some
civilians have had: medical clinics, schools, exhibition centers
and other area structures had been hit, killing dozens and
injuring more.

The chief of the district told the organization there were no
self-defense forces in the area at the time of those attacks
there.

The shelling by the Ukrainian military has only increased since
August 13.

Other officials, such as firefighters, compounded the reports of
difficulties faced when dealing with the consequences of such
heavy assaults.

Although HRW could not get the kind of full account it would have
wished, its survey team bore witness to several incidents itself:
on the day it visited, one shell truck an apartment block just
200 meters from the group’s location. It counted a dozen more
shells on August 21, all striking the central part of Lugansk.

The organization documented craters left after heavy bombardment
downtown, some of which were dangerously close to the city
hospital.

It gathered harrowing victim accounts of the ordeal undergone by
the city’s residents.

In the meantime, the United States continues to place the blame
on all escalation on the Russian government, purporting that it
has crossed borders, or that it’s controlling the insurgency, and
that it had fired upon Ukraine from its own positions near the
border.

No evidence of this had been given to date. At the same time, the
OSCE observers stationed in the east of the country likewise
provided no evidence of Russian military involvement.